Social interaction design and user experience insights for social media designers and social software, web 2.0 applications

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Social Media Paradigm

Social interaction design is social practice-centric. It extends user-centric design approaches by treating the user as socially aware and engaged. By orienting itself to social practices, it views user activity on social media as personal and social routine and pastime. Users use social media to relate to themselves and others, to show and present themselves, to express and talk, to report and tell, to post, comment, and share. When reviewing businesses or products, they are generally aware of their review being a reflection on themselves. Reviews become a means to attract or draw attention to who they are, and through what they review and how, to what they are like. Users put themselves in the company of others, and often define their relationships to members of their audience as friends. Testimonials written say as much about their author and his or her relationship to the person for whom the testimonial is written. And so on. What people do with social media is our focus, and orients the designer's practice.

Social media frame meaningful activities and innovate mediated living

Themes

The identity of a social media service is thematic
Themes communicate What's Going On which tells users
How to proceed
Career networking and passive job search
Dating and flirting
Verticals: music, movies, books, pets
Shopping, reviewing,"best of" and "new"
Classifieds, listings, marketplaces
News, feeds, press, blog coverage

Users are more attentive to what others are doing than to what you would have them do

Activities are Social

Social media are designed around social activities
Activities structure the talk and the action
Activities use participants, context, themes
These organize who talks, about what, what happens, when and how frequently, for how long
All of which must be represented meaningfully
And which must be self-sustaining and alive

Actions are social

Social action common to social media is linguistic, communicative, representative, attention-getting, inviting, participatory, and responsive
These are social acts and action (organized in activities)
Ask, question, query, solicit, hint, wink, imply...
Recommend, suggest, offer, declare, promote, advertise...
Review, opinionate, show off, rant, challenge....
Rate, rank, affirm, confirm, accept, approve....
Favorite, tag, bookmark, link, share....

Organization

The system organizes interaction through its:
Presentation of users (personal, professional, etc.)
Their contributions (conversation, opinions, announcements, etc.)
Layout and navigation (focus on people, posts, media, etc.)
Use of representations and visual languages (tokens, icons, gifts, products, lists, etc.)
Management of time (fast, slow, ephemeral, archived, etc.)
Representation of collective use and community

Experts

What makes an expert depends on who decides what expertise is, who can have it, and how it's validated?
Consumer and end-user experts are often motivated for their own reasons to sustain reputations and demonstrate knowledge and experience
These passions can be harnessed by social media, often to the benefit of a brand and its audience
Social media produce expertise in two ways: by making experts easier to find; and by validating their expertise
Domain experts findable in real time can provide advice and help to those who need it, when they need it
Professional communities of expertise may be fortified or undermined by social media

Related white paper

Social Interaction Design Guide: The Social Engine that Drives Review Sites 2007, pdf, 16 pages.

Overview of SxD

SxD as design

SxD in Theory